Irritating political quote debunked

"If you're not a liberal when you're 25, you have no heart. If you're not a conservative by the time you're 35, you have no brain."

Many of us have probably been faced with this oft-repeated “Winston Churchill” quote at some point. Only last night, a good friend of mine was telling me how infuriated she gets when her conservative uncle lectures her with it. Because isn’t it wonderful to be told that if you haven’t abandoned all of your core beliefs by a certain age, you must be somehow lacking in intelligence?

Just for the record, I don’t like any more that the quote deems young conservatives “heartless.” I just tend to find that most of the people who actually enjoy this quote are older conservatives—you know the individuals whose current and future dispositions aren’t at stake.

So, I was thrilled to learn from WinstonChurchill.org (where you can actually sign up to receive a free Churchill newsletter subscription) that the quote is false. In its refutation of the statement, it cites Paul Addison of Edinburgh University:

“Surely Churchill can't have used the words attributed to him. He'd been a Conservative at 15 and a Liberal at 35! And would he have talked so disrespectfully of [his wife] Clemmie, who is generally thought to have been a lifelong Liberal?”

It should be mentioned that the meanings behind “liberal” and “conservative” change continually and have changed significantly since Churchill’s time, though no one can be completely sure of certain words’ social interpretations in a given era (unless he or she actually lived in that era). Nevertheless, the quote in question seems to be using our contemporary definitions of the terms—extra proof that Churchill didn’t say it.

The Washington Post recently published an opinion piece titled “Liberals and Conservatives Don’t Just Vote Differently. They Think Differently.” The title says it all. The writer argues that a liberal mentality is characterized by openness to experience, whereas the conservative mind tends to desire closure and structure and to resist change. I appreciate an article that engrains “liberal and conservative” in personality instead of in conscious choice. We form opinions based on what we’ve seen and done, and the fact that the quote in question would label people “stupid” or “heartless” based on who they are at any given point in their lives is, I think, pretty insulting and simplistic.

So, I’m very happy to know it’s false! Let me know what you think!

 

David Barton and the Founding Fathers

I never really thought about fakes quotes attributed to the founding fathers until I came across this video from 2010. In it, MSNBC explores a growing movement to dissolve the separation of church and state. Leading the coalition, activist David Barton wrote a book called The Myth of Separation in which he propagates fakes quotes to give historical credence to his claim that the founding fathers wanted only for government to stay out of religion—not vice versa. Readers of Barton’s work will find (among several others) this “James Madison” quote:

“We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our political institutions upon the capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves…according to the Ten Commandments of God.”

Of course, this quote is completely fabricated, as anyone who has read his sourced quotes will immediately recognize. Indeed, Barton’s latest book titled The Jefferson Lies was pulled from shelves two months ago when his own lies were discovered.

MSNBC calls attention to an interesting phenomenon. Namely, when people hold unsupported opinions, they rewrite history. Maybe this is the key to understanding how any fake quote comes about. When people hold certain (usually misguided) preconceptions about another, they write quotes which reinforce those preconceptions.

Thus, the quality which renders false quotes annoying is the same quality which makes them salient and easily propagated: they cater to myth and popular misconceptions.

Questionable Oscar Wilde Quotes

We all know an Oscar Wilde quote when we read one. “Life is far too important a thing ever to talk seriously about.” This brilliant, illogically true statement from Lady Windermere’s Fan has the late writer’s name written all over it. And his literary repertoire overflows with equally funny and meaningful witticisms. Doesn’t each of his quotes have a certain unmistakable “ring” to it? I definitely think so, which is why I find the many fake quotes attributed to him fairly easy to distinguish.

“Never love anyone who treats you like you’re ordinary.”

Anybody who has searched “Oscar Wilde quotes” on Google has likely come across this famous statement. I love the quote, but it just doesn’t seem to me like one Wilde would have said. Compare the above quote to this one:

“How can a woman be expected to be happy with a man who insists on treating her as if she were a perfectly normal human being?”

Doesn’t this sound so much more like Oscar Wilde? Somehow, this quote is funnier, more outrageous and more absurdly relevant. The fake quote expresses the same basic idea, but I think it’s too straightforward to have come from man it’s attributed to.

“The books that the world calls immoral are the books that show the world its own shame.”

Again, I adore this quote, but I think it’s too serious to have been said by Oscar Wilde. I have no doubt that he agreed with it because it echoes a phrase found in the preface to The Picture of Dorian Gray:

“There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.” Certainly, Wilde had much to say on this topic. His own works were frequently caught in controversies concerning “morality.”—controversies perpetuated by those unable to tolerate the satire directed at their own (and Wilde’s) way of life.

The two “faux” quotes above are questionable. They pop out at me as “fake,” but who can say for sure? Oscar Wilde himself wrote in The Importance of Being Earnest that “the truth is rarely pure and never simple.” Maybe someday I (or one of you guys) will find sources for the statements above, but until then, I’m going to avoid attributing them to Wilde.

I find that The Quotations Page is pretty reliable (I always search “Marilyn Monroe quotes” to test these kinds of websites. It’s always reassuring ,too, if the site includes sources). You guys should check out the Oscar Wilde page (for amusement if nothing else)! With anyone, the more real quotes you read and the more interviews you watch, the better you’ll get at weeding out fake quotes.

 

Real quotes attributed to the wrong people...

Not every “faux” quote was born on the Internet. These two wonderful quotes do have verifiable sources but are frequently attributed erroneously.

“Well-behaved women seldom make history.”

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve found the name “Marilyn Monroe” at the bottom of this quote. It was actually said by feminist and historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in the 1970s (after Marilyn had died). Since then, Ulrich has given several lectures explaining the larger, complex ideas behind her famous statement and the implications those ideas hold for contemporary society.

I think we can agree that history has been shaped by people who were (in any time period) willing to step beyond the boundaries drawn by “normalcy” and “propriety.” The Feminist Movement may have been impossible without those who questioned women’s given “place” in a society. When Ulrich coined her famous phrase, she may have indeed had Marilyn Monroe in mind. Who knows? One could argue very strongly that Marilyn helped shape the course of feminism—perhaps without even realizing it. She lived her life in a way that said to all people (men and women), “sexuality is natural, it’s fun, and it’s innocent.” Interestingly, by not thinking too hard about sex herself, she altered the way hundreds of others viewed it. In her time, Marilyn Monroe was frequently deemed “vulgar.” Today, many hold her as a shining example of the liberated woman.

What irritates me most regarding this quote in its attribution to the late actress is the way in which people hold it as proof that Marilyn Monroe sought scandal. They view her as the original Hollywood “bad girl.” But they forget that “bad” in the 1950s was a far cry from “bad” in 2012.

Marilyn Monroe was and will always be Marilyn Monroe—one individual. Because our culture has changed, though, so has she. This may have been what Laurel Thatcher Ulrich was getting at. So, I can see why Marilyn is associated with this quote, but she definitely did not say it.

“For beautiful eyes, look for the good in others; for beautiful lips, speak only words of kindness; and for poise, walk with the knowledge that you are never alone.”

This quote is an excerpt from Sam Levenson’s poem, “Time-Tested Beauty Tips.” While this poem was one of Audrey Hepburn’s favorites, she did not write it. When you read the entire poem, you’ll recognize several “Audrey” quotes weaved into it.